Estonia pledges troops for France's Sahel mission

Erwan de Cherisey, Mexico City - Jane's Defence Weekly

28 March 2018

The Estonian government announced on 22 March its intention to deploy up to 50 troops to Mali to support the French military’s Operation ‘Barkhane’ regional counter-insurgency mission. Parliamentary approval is now being sought for the deployment.

The contingent would be based at Gao in northeast Mali for a year and tasked with protecting the local Barkhane base and its surroundings, an Estonian Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman told Jane’s .